Ducks on Stream

The Ducks are now coming on stream, over the past week 3 broods have been spotted on the lower river. The first brood of 6 have already all been taken by predators, hoodie crows are the prime suspects since I saw the last one of the first brood being stalked by a hoodie just above the road bridge.

The second brood of 11 two days ago, is now down to 9 tonight. I was told another brood of 16 hatched yesterday but I have not seen them around, hopefully the mother is upstream somewhere safe.

There are several mothers sitting and should be showing more on the river soon. The weather is doing them no favours at the moment, for the cold means less flies and insects around for the ducklings.

Can I remind people to avoid trying to feed the ducklings, since this is liable to attract predators that will take anything floating on the water - including ducklings ! It takes about 6 weeks before they are comparatively safe and a little too big to tackle.